1. Field of the Invention
A first aspect of the present invention relates to a method of opening a door of a vehicle body and a device that are suited to application in a door removing system that can remove a door of a vehicle. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of opening a door and a device that can reduce the installation space of the robot and achieve a reduction in the cycle time.
A second aspect of the present invention relates to a door removing device and method that can remove the door of a vehicle. More specifically, the invention relates to a door removing device and method that can improve the layout properties of a facility by reducing the number of robots.
A third aspect of the present invention relates to a door holding device and method that can be applied to a door removing system that can remove the door of a vehicle. More specifically, the invention relates to a door holding device and method that can hold a door so as not to be scratched, with only one dual arm robot using a tool that has been reduced in size.
A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to a socket that is suited for use in the door removing system. More specifically, the invention relates to a socket that can be used in the door removing system capable of removing the door of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, in the manufacturing process of vehicles, after painting of a vehicle to which the doors have been temporarily fixed to the body with bolts is performed, the doors are removed from the body by the bolts being removed, and the doors and the body are assembled in separates lines.
During the manufacturing process of vehicles in this way, there is a process for removing the doors from the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as “door removing process”).
A door removing system used in such a door removing process is described in Patent Document 1, for example.
The door removing system described in Patent Document 1 includes two first robots position on either side of the body and equipped with nut runners, and two second robots positioned on either side of the body and holding the doors, and operates as follows.
In other words, the first robots release the connection between the doors and body by loosening the bolts using the nut runners, in a state in which the doors are open. Thereafter, the second robots hold and convey the doors.
Herein, the second robots are single arm robots, and have a door holding hand dedicated to holding one door. The structure of this door holding hand differs for every model depending on the shape and structure of the door.
However, with the door removing system described in Patent Document 1, one door is conveyed by supporting with one single arm robot; therefore, there has been a problem in that the robot is large scale, and the occupied space of the robot is large, and thus the general versatility of the robot declines.
In addition, in a line producing several models, since the shape and structure of doors differ for every model, there has been a problem in that a plurality of types of jigs becomes necessary, thereby increasing the cost.
Furthermore, there is a problem in that the holding jigs are exchanged and adjusted every time the model to be produced on the manufacturing line changes, and thus the cycle time lengthens.
Therefore, in order to solve these problems, the present inventors have already disclosed a door removing system using a dual arm robot as the robot for holding and conveying one door in Patent Document 2.
However, with such a door removing process, the operations are performed in a crowded space, and thus it is difficult to secure the space to be occupied by the robot. As a result, there has been a problem in that the operation to remove the bolts in order to release the connection between the doors and body must be performed in an extremely narrow space.
Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, for example, a wrench equipped with a nut outgoing path that permits the passage of a nut is disclosed in Patent Document 3. Similarly, a wrench configured to be able to push out nuts by way of a sliding piece configured to be movable in an axial direction of the wrench is disclosed in Cited Publication 4 as well.
Such technology disclosed in Patent Documents 3 and 4 can be used in the door removing system disclosed in Patent Document 2 or the like.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H9-103925    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-214701    Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-190244    Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-6429